Economy, politics, immigration, and war have
dictated American migration patterns for centuries.
These patterns, though complex, are important
historical indicators that portray the direct
effects of political and economic situations
on peoples' lives. The migration and settlement
of African Americans throughout the country
also followed patterns that were influenced
by current events, but because of slavery and
racism, the patterns were often unique. By looking
at the beginnings of slavery and its expansion
throughout the South, we can begin to understand
the settlement patterns of blacks throughout
the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. Emancipation
was not the only factor that dictated the settlement
of blacks, nor was it the first time blacks
were mobile in America. African American migration
was also influenced by the same events that
affected the population as a whole, such as
the availability of homesteads and the California
Gold Rush. Through these events we can follow
the patterns of African American migration,
which provides some explanation for the American
demographic as it exists today.

The Slave Trade

In 1619, twenty Africans were brought to Jamestown
as indentured servants. More were brought to
Boston in 1639. These people were the first
of 10,000 Africans that would be brought to
the British Colonies during the 17th century.
Although they were the first Africans in the
British Colonies, they were not the first brought
to North America. During the 1500s, African
slaves accompanied the Spanish explorers in
Florida and Texas. Runaway slaves even reached
as far north as South Carolina. But it was the
slave trade in the British Colonies that determined
further expansion throughout America. As more
servants arrived in the colonies, plantation
owners feared they might lose control. This
fear led to the institutionalized slavery of
Africans that would last until the Civil War.

African slaves were acquired (kidnapped) by
members of rival kingdoms within Africa and
sold to European traders. Sugar plantations
in Brazil and the Caribbean demanded the most
slaves. Work on the sugar plantations was the
harshest of all the labor Africans were forced
into, which caused a higher death rate, and
thus a higher demand for slaves. As tobacco
proved to be a valuable cash crop in North America,
British colonists also took advantage of the
slave trade. Between 1619 (when the first Africans
were brought to America) and 1808 (when the
slave trade ended in America), over 400,000
Africans were forcefully transported to what
is now the United States.(1)

Table
1: Slave Population by Colony, 1680
- 1770 (2)

Colony

1680

1740

1770

Massachusetts

110

3,305

5,698

New Hampshire

75

500

5,698

Rhode Island

175

2,408

5,698

Connecticut

50

2,598

5,698

New York

1,200

8,996

63,818

New Jersey

200

4,366

63,818

Delaware

55

1,035

1,836

Pennsylvania

200

2,062

5,761

Maryland

1,611

24,031

63,818

Virginia

3,000

60,000

187,605

North Carolina

210

11,000

69,000

South Carolina

200

30,000

75,178

Georgia

---

---

10,625

The majority
of slaves in North America were brought to the
Chesapeake region, particularly Virginia and
the Carolinas. This major tobacco-growing district
demanded the most slave labor and would remain
the leading slave-holding region until the emergence
of cotton near the end of the 18th century.

The slaves that were captured came from many
different ethnic groups and locations in Africa.
The majority of the Africans were farmers, herders,
or fishermen before becoming enslaved. Most
were familiar with tobacco and rice farming,
which were the principle crops in America. They
each had their own religious and cultural beliefs
that they brought with them to the New World.
The ports in North America that received slaves
were located in New Orleans, Savannah, Charleston,
New York, Newport, and Boston. Each of these
areas took in slaves from different parts of
Africa, but the ratios of African ethnicities
varied in each region of America. For example,
almost 40% of the slaves in the Chesapeake region
came from the Bight of Biafra, but in Louisiana,
the majority came from Senegambia. These ethnic
differences shaped African culture in the respective
areas.

The majority
of slaves in America were concentrated on the
tobacco fields in the Chesapeake region and
the rice and indigo plantations in Georgia and
Carolina. Slaves in the north, such as in New
York and Boston were more likely to do domestic
and other non-agricultural work. The end of
the 18th century brought a decline in tobacco
and the need for slaves. Many slaves were manumitted
by their owners, giving way to what historians
call the First Emancipation.

The First Emancipation

The growth of tobacco took its toll on the Chesapeake's
soil, and by the end of the 18th century, the
tobacco industry was in a state of decline.
Some farmers migrated to the south and west,
planting on new land. Others tried to find new
uses for their slaves, such as renting them
out as domestic servants and urban laborers.
Many owners failed to find uses for their slaves
and as a result, set them free. This was most
common in Maryland and Delaware, but it happened
throughout all of the colonies. In Virginia,
the number of free blacks rose from 12,766 in
1790, to 30,570 in 1810.(4)
It was during this time that the northern states
abolished slavery, creating an even larger number
of free blacks. These free blacks often lived
in the urban centers of the North.

Table 3: Emancipation
Dates for Northern States (5)

Colony

Emanicpation

Massachusets

1780

New Hampshire

1783

Vermont

1777

Rhode Island

1784

Connecticut

1784

New York

1799

New Jersey

1804

Pennsylvania

1780

Northwest
Territories

1787

The Recommitment to Slavery

The First Emancipation was cut short by the
invention of the cotton gin. Short Staple cotton
grew well along the lower Atlantic coast and
in the Deep South, but was not profitable because
of the large amount of time and labor required
to remove the seeds. In 1793 Ely Whitney invented
the cotton gin, a machine that quickly separated
the seeds from cotton; America instantly gained
a new cash crop to replace tobacco. Cotton was
in high demand and brought large profits, especially
with the use of free labor. The increase of
cotton farming single-handedly rejuvenated and
solidified slavery in the South.

This high demand for cotton caused a high demand
for slaves. Farmers who lived too far north
to plant cotton sold their slaves to Southerners
at high prices. The slave trade was scheduled
to end in 1808, (as decided by the United States,
England, and other European countries) so slave
traders made the most of the time they had left
and imported as many slaves as possible. Between
1788 and 1808, 250,000 slaves were brought directly
from Africa to America, mostly to the ports
in Savannah and Charleston.(6)
The concentration of slaves shifted from the
Chesapeake region to the Deep South, especially
Georgia and South Carolina. Heavy concentrations
of slaves also developed in the newly opened
lands of Mississippi and Alabama. The fertile
soil that surrounded Alabama's rivers developed
a plantation economy as soon as lands became
available from the Native Americans. Called
the Black Belt because of its dark, rich soil,
this region could have easily taken its name
from the large concentration of black slaves
as well.

(1)Jonathan
Earle, The Routledge Atlas of African American
History, (New York: Routledge, 2000), 23.(2) Earle,
29-31. (3) Helen Hornbeck
Tanner, ed. The Settling of North America:
The Atlas of the Great Migration into North America
From the Ice Age to the Present, (New York:
MacMillan, 1995), 50.(4) John M.
Murrin, et al., Liberty, Equality, Power: A
History of the American People, (Orlando:
Hartcourt College Publishers, Inc., 2002), 268.(5) Earle,
35.(6)Murrin,
270.